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Mass Combat: Creating Units
Home>Tabletop Games>System-Agnostic>Mass Combat System A unit is the fundamental component of the Mass Combat system. Attributes All units have three attributes: * Quantity: 'The raw number of people. Quantity determines how good the unit is at being in more than one place at a time.'' A unit that is reduced below Base Quantity is reduced to its commanders. ** '''Base: A lone hero. ** Low: A small squad. ** Standard: A few squads. ** High: A mob. ** Very High: An army. ** Legendary: Countless legions. * Quality: '''The training, equipment, power, and general readiness of the unit. A unit that is reduced below Base Quality surrenders the next time it is in the same Point as an enemy unit able to accept the surrender. ** '''Base: Raw recruits with no training and improvised equipment. ** Low: Soldiers with basic training and half-broken equipment. ** Standard: Seasoned troops with ordinary equipment. ** High: Veterans with advanced training and good equipment. ** Very High: Elite soldiers with the best equipment commonly available. ** Legendary: Special forces with cutting-edge equipment. * Quickness: '''The speed at which the unit moves. Units cannot be reduced below Base Quickness. ** '''Base: Immobile. ** Low: Slow. Likely injured or weighed down. ** Standard: Normal walking or marching pace. ** High: Fast. Equipped with mounts or slow vehicles. ** Very High: Incredibly fast. Equipped with fast vehicles. ** Legendary: Fastest people alive. Attributes start at Base. Increasing an attribute by one category costs 5 build points. Skills The Mass Combat system uses three skills: * Logistics: '''The ability to obtain and ration out supplies. Logistics is keyed to or added to Quickness. * '''Tactics: '''The ability to put the right people in the right places with the right equipment. Tactics is keyed to or added to Quantity. * '''Discipline: '''The ability to fight, keep up morale, and act independently. Discipline is keyed to or added to Quality. Depending on the system and themes of the game, the game master may add other unit skills such as '''Covert Ops, Engineering, Ritual Magic, '''or '''Tradecraft; '''these skills are used in Miscellaneous actions, and may be used in other actions as per the system. Skills start at Base. Increasing a skill by one category costs 5 build points. Other Traits Units have other traits as well. Movement Type All units have at least one movement type, and many have several. The movement type determines the manner in which the unit moves. Movement types might, depending on setting, include Ground, Rail, Air, Sea, Submarine, Tunnel, Roof Runner, Phase, Gate, Hyperspace, or stranger things. Each unit starts with a handful of common movement types based on its type. Exotic movement types cost 5 points each; whether or not a movement type counts as "exotic" is up to the GM. * '''Infantry: Ground, Rail, Road * Cavalry: Ground, Road * Armor: Ground * Wheeled: Road * Ethereal: Ground, Road, Phase * Ocean: Sea * Airborne: Air * Amphibious: Ground, Sea * Aerospace: Air, Space * Mining: Ground, Tunnel * Potentially Exotic: Air, Submarine, Tunnel, Phase, Hyperspace To limit abuses of unit types with many movement types, GMs may apply restrictions to certain unit types, such as capping Quickness or forbidding certain Quiver abilities. Infantry, for instance, can move on virtually any ground-based Path (Ground, Rail, Road), but can only do so at a walking pace (Standard Quickness) and cannot carry artillery pieces (no Crowd Control). Commanders The person or persons who lead the unit, or any important persons attached to the unit. If a commander has a skill that could reasonably stand in for a unit skill, use the better of the two. If a unit is reduced to ≤ Base, it consists entirely of its commanders. If a unit of ≥ Base and Quality ≥ Base has no commanders, it immediately promotes one from its own ranks and loses a point of Quality; the new commander becomes a named character if such things are important. If a unit of < Base has no commanders, it is removed from the battle as a casualty. If a unit of < Base has no commanders, it immediately becomes Out Of Command and Routed ''until it gains one. At the game master’s discretion, a unit with no commanders may instead be removed from the battle as a desertion. Certain special rules refer to ''leaders, which are special commanders flagged as leaders. Only leaders can direct the unit. Units without leaders but with commanders promote one of their commanders to leader automatically, and units may take a special action to promote a commander to leader. Quiver The unique abilities of the unit. Quiver abilities are covered in their own section, and have their own costs. Quandaries The difficulties that a unit faces. Quandaries are covered in their own section, and are inflicted as a result of events during play.